Pokken Tournament is getting a special controller in Japan and in the US

Whenever arcade games are ported to home consoles, recreating that arcade experience is a principal concern, and that usually means getting the control options to feel just right.

Such is the case for the Wii U version of Pokken Tournament, which will be sold in Japan bundled with a special controller. Anyone with any experience with an arcade fighting game knows that the quintessential setup is to have buttons and joysticks are built on the panels of a machine in place of controllers. But the arcade version of Pokken Tournament actually uses a wired controller, one which will be replicated for the console release of the game.

The special Pokken Tournament Wii U controller mimics the design of the arcade controller, from the controller’s shape up to the button layout: no analog sticks and the classic Nintendo D-Pad, four button YXBA and two shoulder trigger arrangement. Presumably for compatibility with other Wii U games, the Pokken Tournament Wii U controller also has four additional face buttons for Select, Start, ZL and ZR, all of which are on the standard Wii U Pro Controller. Finally, the Pokken Tournament Wii U controller is wired, allowing for uninterrupted play sessions as you won’t need to charge any batteries.

This isn’t the first time that Nintendo released a controller designed specifically for a game; they previously released a special GameCube-style controller for Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U. Initially, this controller was set for release in Japan only, but a recent listing on Amazon shows that the controller will also be available in North America.